On the morning Day 9, JP was feeling even worse than he was the evening before, so he opted to stay in the room and sleep. Myself, I had at least one more place I had to see: the National History Museum.

I left the museum in the early afternoon, and stopped by the Science Museum next door. At that point, however, I'd about had my fill of museums for the day, and my brief perusal of the exhibits list there didn't inspire me. So I decided to grab the Tube east and check out Piccadilly Circus a little better.

When I arrived at Piccadilly Circus, however, it was raining. I stayed just long enough to snap a picture of the statue of Eros there, and headed back underground.

I got off at the next stop, Leicester Square, because I saw a sign for a McDonald's. I was a little peckish, and one thing I like to do when visiting foreign lands is to see what local tweaks get made to the McDonald's menu. It wasn't the easiest thing to find, but I managed to root it out... and was disappointed to see that the menu was exactly the same as in the States, although a bit more limited. I did, however, come across the Arts Theater, which was doing a satire called 'The Madness of George Dubya', which looked interesting. Being alone, I didn't look into too closely, and instead grabbed a snack at a nearby Pret A Manger and headed down into Trafalgar Square. I got a few pix there, then stopped in at the Silver Cross pub for a pint when the rain picked up a bit more. From there I wandered through the Embankment Gardens area for a bit. Then I decided to head back to the hotel to check on JP.

JP was feeling mostly better when I returned, and was interested in 'The Madness of George Dubya', so we headed back into Leicester Square. As it turns out, though, the theater was closed, it being a Sunday. Instead we sought out dinner, which was again some of the best Indian food I've ever had. Since it JP's birthday was the day prior, it was my treat.

After dinner, I figured JP should see some of the cool stuff I'd seen earlier, so we went back through Trafalgar Square and Embankment Gardens. In addition to a nifty London Underground t-shirt, we got a few more pics in those areas:
me with a Trafalgar Square Lion
part of the world's biggest cartoon, in Trafalgar Square
a sphinx with Big Ben in the background, in the Embankment Gardens
Arthur Sullivan Memorial in the Embankment Gardens
W.S. Gilbert Memorial, not far from his partner's ("His Foe Was Folly & His Weapon Wit")

Then we called it a day and headed back to the hotel for my usual pint or two and then bed.